TIME FOR THE MSM TO ADMIT THEIR HATRED OF TRUMP: Keeping up the pretense that they’re doing objective journalism is destroying the credibility of a profession to which I’ve devoted 35 years.

IS THIS REALLY THE END OF GLOBALISM? Can you guess the answer from the conclusion of this sharp-tongued analysis by Hillsdale College Professor David Azzerad:

“Many Americans have also shown themselves to be uncharacteristically passive as state and local governments restrict civil liberties, release prisoners, and refuse to prosecute burglaries and other property crimes. It is a dispiriting thought that the legacy of the coronavirus could be a stronger state, a more sheepish and fearful population, and a ruling class even more dedicated to globalism.”

REMEMBER DAVID BROCK? One of the cogs in his Democratic attack machine received more than $100K of stock in a Chinese tech giant that exists because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allows it to exist. Brock’s group refuses to answer questions about the gift because you’re a bigot/racist/climate denier/homophobe/oppressor/etc./etc.

IT’S BAD ENOUGH WE MUST DEPEND ON CHINA FOR OUR ANTI-BIOTICS BUT WHAT IF: They also cut off our access to critically needed “Rare Earth Elements” (REEs) without which much of America’s weaponry and operational military systems cannot function. Michael Ravnitzky writes:

“From the 1960s to the 1980s, the United States led the global production of REEs. Eventually, China’s labor cost advantages, less demanding environmental rules, and sites with commercially exploitable concentrations of REEs caused world production to shift almost completely to China.

“This was exacerbated by a ‘laissez-faire’ approach to long-term rare earth procurement strategies. China now produces 100 percent of the ‘heavy’ REEs and nearly all of the ‘light’ REEs. Development of known reserves in other countries has been hampered by logistical and investment hurdles, as well as the environmental and technical challenges of mining, extracting, and refining REEs.

“The only remaining American REE mining operation now sends its ore to China for processing (Emphasis added). In recent years, Chinese firms have purchased key U.S. magnet manufacturers, appropriated their technologies, established production in China, and discontinued the U.S. operations.

“China has also reduced the sale of its REEs to other nations, not only because of concerns about resource depletion, but also because of its national policy of shifting from the sale of commodities to the sale of higher-value finished goods.”

The U.S. Army recently recognized Ravnitzky with a much-deserved award for this piece. It’s a little tough sledding to read because of the unfamiliarity of some of its materials for the general reader, but if you care about the survival of the U.S., this is essential reading.

WHO GETS THE BLAME IF CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN WAS MASSIVE OVERREACTION? Good question and one that day-by-day becomes more relevant.

THERE ACTUALLY IS A MIND-CONTROLLED PROSTHESIS: This ain’t sci-fi, it’s the real thing.

THINK SPYGATE INDICTMENTS ARE COMING? THINK AGAIN: Diana West offers a bracing splash of historical reality about indictments and the Washington Swamp. I hope she’s wrong on this one (as she does), but the history is there, thanks to M. Stanton Evans and Herb Romerstein. I knew them both and absolutely trust their insights, discernment and devotion to the Republic.

WHAT IF CHINA HAD BEEN TRUTHFUL ABOUT CORONAVIRUS? Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb believes the pandemic that has swept the world could well have been contained in China, perhaps even to the Wuhan region. This whole episode will be costing China for decades to come, and rightfully so.

8 REASONS TO BELIEVE HE IS RISEN: The evidence is deep and persuasive for many folks of undoubted intelligence. Not so much for others. Whichever side you come down on, it’s Easter Sunday, so consider these points.

IT’S SATURDAY, KIND OF THE LOST DAY OF EASTER: And this year, it’s the Easter we’re all staying home pondering, like the disciples, what’s next? Easter is important for many, maybe even most, Instapundit readers, who may appreciate sharing a little quiet reflection about the three most important days of the year.

Yesterday was the horror of the crucifixion. Tomorrow is the miracle of resurrection. But what about today, the in-between day of Easter? I have some thoughts. And if Easter isn’t your cup of tea, maybe you’ll appreciate the sentiment. Or just move along to the next great post, thankful for the freedom we all have, still, to believe or not to believe, and to speak or not to speak, as we each choose.

LOOKING FOR ANOTHER KIND OF RESURRECTION: It’s Easter, so people are talking about resurrections. Over at Issues & Insights, the focus is on a different sort of resurrection.

NO, CORONAVIRUS DIDN’T COME FROM THE WUHAN MARKET: Joshua Phillips of The Epoch Times leads this documentary that should open eyes to the reality the disease is man-made. This is a must-watch.

IS THIS AMERICA’S TURNING POINT? The answers from Robert E. Wright of the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) are blunt and likely to anger all the usual suspects. Take this graph for instance:

“As I recently argued elsewhere, America’s educational system has not prepared us for the government power grab because it does not create enough Emersonian independent thinkers or, frankly, even adult thinkers. Due to the extreme Left bias of higher education, many of America’s college graduates remain intellectually infantilized to the point that they can do little more than Tweet ignorant hate at any idea that does not accord with Progressive mantras.”

Too severe a judgement? I think not, but what do other Instapunditites think? And what a neat shot of the shark!

LOTS OF DEREGULATORY LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM CORONAVIRUS: Don’t expect to read about it in the MSM but lots of bureaucratic red tape in the health care field is being waived to speed the official response to the coronavirus pandemic. Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) and the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) are compiling lists, pointing to additional areas for action and making the case for permanent reforms.

CHINA BARS CHURCHES FROM STREAMING SERVICES: Millions of Americans are holding church services and meetings via the Internet during the coronavirus pandemic. Not so in China, which has recently increased its already oppressive measures against Christians.

WHEN IS A CORONAVIRUS DEATH ACTUALLY A CORONAVIRUS DEATH? Good question, raised by Julie Kelly of American Greatness. The answers are about as clear as a gallon of Mississippi River mud flats water.

GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY DEEMED ‘NON-ESSENTIAL’ BY CHICAGO: Don’t bother submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the local authorities in The Windy City. Mayor Lori Lightfoot claimed not to know this automated response is now going to all FOIA requests: “Freedom of Information Act responses have been deemed a non-essential city operation and are being temporarily suspended until further notice,” according to Governing.

ACT OF JOURNALISM COMMITTED ON CAPITOL HILL: Which of these presidents disbanded the National Security Council’s anti-pandemic section, Donald Trump, Barack Obama or George W. Bush? How about all three of them!

Credit Roll Call’s Rachel Oswald with doing the research, interviewing key players, asking them pointed questions, and then presenting the results in a straightforward, no-nonsense fashion. Here’s the summary paragraph:

“But a variety of longtime experts in disaster response who spoke to CQ Roll Call warn that the country risks missing some of the lessons from what is the largest public health crisis in a century if opprobrium is heaped solely at Trump’s feet. Rather, they say, there is blame to be shared, going back decades through multiple presidencies and on both sides of the political aisle.”

Other than a perfunctory paean to Pelosi’s pandemic commission near the end, Oswald keeps it balanced and informative. It’s called “journalism” and the nation needs a huge revival of it. I just hope Oswald’s career doesn’t suffer for having done this excellent piece.

Compare Oswald’s work with this Establishment agit-prop from The Washington Post, pushing the Trump-pushing-risky-drug and Trump-White House-divisions-widen narratives.

“IS CHINA GROUND ZERO FOR A FUTURE PANDEMIC?” That was the headline in the November 2017 edition of Smithsonian Magazine. The lead photo is a wet market in China. Clearly, Trump is late to this fact pattern.

HT: Jim Geraghty, The Morning Jolt, “All Signs Point to China.”

IT’S EASTER WEEK AND NO, JESUS IS NOT A FAIRY TALE: The “Jesus is just another child’s story, like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny” claim will be repeated in the mainstream media this week. But what if it’s wrong?

ESSENTIAL READING ON DEMOCRATS’ ANTI-TRUMP CORONAVIRUS CHRONOLOGY: Attorney Par Excellence Cleta Mitchell lays it out, excruciating (for Pelosi, et. al.) gaps and all:

“If Pelosi believes the president should have done something at the beginning, when exactly does she think was the ‘beginning’? Was it during the impeachment proceedings that Pelosi instigated? Should Pelosi bear some responsibility for what she perceives as the president’s failure to focus on the coronavirus back in January?

“The single most important step taken by President Trump was his closing of U.S. travel with China, which happened on Jan. 31, something the president reminds us at every briefing.

“He’s right, but what he doesn’t say is he made that decision at a time the CDC was assuring us the risk to America was low, the WHO was covering for China, Democrats were trying to impeach the president, and Biden was attacking the decision as xenophobic.”

PEOPLE PRAYING PANDEMIC PASSES: Pew pronouncement.

WHAT’S THIS, LIBERALS BUYING FIREARMS? Bearing Arms’ Cam Edwards reports those crowds at gun dealers aren’t made up entirely of heat-packing GOPers.

NEW GOLDEN RULE – HE WHO HAS THE ANTIBIOTICS MAKES THE RULES: Jan Jekielek interviews  Rosemary Gibson, author of “China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine” in The Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders” interview series. Here’s a sample from an important and much-needed interview:

“We’re so dependent that we can’t even make antibiotics anymore in the United States. That began in the early 2000s, when the United States opened up free trade with China. And the last penicillin plant shut down. The last vitamin C plant shut down.

“And that happened because China undercut other companies on price and kept prices low for a long time. These are illegal trade practices. And that’s how we lost our penicillin capability and the production of generic antibiotics. We’ve got to think about ways that we can bring our manufacturing back home. Not all of it, but some of it, to assure our national health security.”

The promise of globalism was that mutual interdependence would prevent concentrations of power that produce political and economic abuses. Gibson makes clear that China didn’t get the message and neither did American political leaders in either major party.

U.S. NAVAL WAR COLLEGE WAR-GAMED A PANDEMIC: It was last year and involved 50 experts responding in ways that were eerily like what has been happening in the real-world in 2020, according to military.com.

“Called Urban Outbreak 2019, the war game involved 50 experts who spent two days coordinating response, containment and messaging efforts around the notional pandemic. Some of the conclusions, such as the way forced mass quarantine can backfire and trigger additional disease spread, and how the mortality rate is better than the overall number of disease cases in assessing the scale of an outbreak — have been proved out through the response to the novel coronavirus.”